Gov. Rick Scott, shown on March 5, said in a statement Monday in regards to the healthcare overhaul, 'I am confident that the Legislature will do the right thing.'

Written by

Kelli Kennedy and
Gary Fineout

A Florida Senate committee voted Monday against expanding Medicaid to roughly 1 million of the state's poorest under the federal health overhaul and instead proposed a voucher plan that would require patients to pay premiums and co-pays.

"This will be the beginning of a transformation of the entire Medicaid system," committee chair Sen. Joe Negron said. "My goal is that we will get out of the federal Medicaid system as we know it. Now we can't do that all at once, but we have an opportunity to begin that process."

Negron wants the state to create a basic health insurance plan for the expanded ...